Brenda Shoffner: Working vacation brings joys, sorrows this Christmas season

Thursday

Dec 20, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 20, 2012 at 8:49 AM

I spent two nights of my vacation last week working. One resulted in today’s cover story.

BRENDA SHOFFNER / Daily News

I spent two nights of my vacation last week working. One resulted in today’s cover story.

The second night, I attended Ted Vigil’s Tribute to John Denver concert presented as part of the Emerald Coast Concert Association’s season.

What a wonderful show! Or perhaps, “Far out!” would be more appropriate.

Vigil didn’t waste anytime making us wonder when he would sing “Rocky Mountain High” and “Country Roads,” which were his first two selections. He even invited us to sing along on the chorus of “Country Roads.”

I was thrilled he sang pretty much all of my favorite Denver songs, including “Calypso. The only one I missed was “Follow Me,” which wasn’t a big hit.

Speaking of, however, Vigil sang a cool song called “Matthew” that I’d never heard before. It features a state dear to my heart — Kansas.

He also performed a few of his own original compositions. I particularly liked “Sing My Songs When I’m Gone,” which was very Denveresque.

There are still four shows left in the ECCA series, and they are offering a special winter package of $95 for all of them.

I saw pianist Gentille when she performed here in January 2010, and she is amazing.

To get tickets, call Susan Kneller at 837-1742.

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I also saw “The Hobbit.” I know I fussed about it being extended into three movies, but I had to go. My review in a nutshell: I loved the unexpected prologue and everything involving the Elves and Rivendale.

My two primary problems with “The Hobbit” were: First, it felt as if the movie simply moved from one battle to the next and, second, I kept wondering, “Is this where it will end? OK, how about here? Or perhaps, here?”

Traditionally, in this column before Christmas I offer a list of restaurants that will be open for the holiday dinner. The list is exceptionally short this year because only one restaurant provided information.